It hasn’t even been streaming on Netflix for a month, but “Vikings: Valhalla” has already captured the attention of the global audience, leading it to renewal for Seasons 2 and 3, the streamer announced Wednesday.
Netflix previously announced a 24-episode pickup of the show, but Wednesday’s news confirms there will be three, eight-episode seasons. Production on Season 2 has wrapped and is expected to drop next year.
Production on the third season will begin this spring.
Sam Corlett (Leif Eriksson), Frida Gustavsson (Freydis Eriksdotter) and Leo Suter (Harald Sigurdsson), are among the actors set to reprise their roles.
Series creator Jeb Stuart continues as showrunner and executive producer, Netflix also confirmed.
“Fans of ‘Valhalla’ — THANK YOU to the millions of you who have watched (and rewatched!) Season 1. The numbers have been mind-boggling and beyond my wildest expectations,” Stuart said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to be able to confirm that we wrapped and are already editing Season 2 and that production will start soon on Season 3. While the storylines for Leif, Freydis, Harald, Olaf, Canute and the rest of our amazing cast are secret, I can say without hesitation that their journeys will be even more epic than what you’ve seen so far. SKÅL!!!”
“The fans have spoken and we couldn’t be more thrilled than to bring them more of the epic adventure and heart-pounding action they love. Jeb Stuart has masterfully taken this beloved saga 125 years into the future and introduced a whole new generation of Vikings and stories that have resonated with new and existing fans all over the world,” Peter Friedlander, head of U.S./Canada scripted series, said in a statement. “There is plenty more to avenge and more battles to fight!”
Executive producers on “Valhalla” for Season 2 are Stuart, Morgan O’Sullivan, Michael Hirst, Sheila Hockin, Steve Stark, James Flynn, John Weber, Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer, and Paul Buccieri.
Season 1 chronicled “the heroic adventures of some of the most famous Vikings who ever lived — the legendary explorer Leif Eriksson, his fiery and headstrong sister Freydis Eriksdotter, and the ambitious Nordic prince Harald Sigurdsson,” per a Netflix logline. Tension brewed between the Vikings and the English royals and they ended up in a major clash on a London bridge. There was also war among the Vikings themselves between those following Christianity and those still loyal to the pagan beliefs.
According to Netflix, the first season of the show (set about 100 years after Michael Hirst’s “Vikings” series) ranked No. 1 on Netflix’s Top 10 for the week of Feb. 28 with 113.38 million hours viewed. The series garnered 80.5 million hours viewed during its first two days the week prior bringing it to an impressive 194 million hours viewed in its first nine days.
MGM Television is the studio behind the series, which is inspired by Hirst’s original “Vikings” series.